White Tail, a nudist park in southeastern Virginia's Southampton County, opens its first summer camp for the 11-to-18 age group Saturday - only the third such au naturel camp for juveniles in the nation, according to the American Association of Nude Recreation.

Bob Roche, who manages the camp on 45 bucolic acres, said the weeklong get-together is no big deal for the 30 children who signed up, most of whom were raised in nudist families.

State and local officials, however, are alarmed by a summer camp intended to bring unclothed teens together for a week.

"We're very concerned about this development. An atmosphere like that is very clearly an invitation to pedophiles," said Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore's press secretary, Tim Murtaugh.

Delegate Robert G. Marshall, one of the state legislature's foremost social conservatives, said such a camp was better suited for San Francisco than straight-laced Virginia.

"I guess these nudists were just born that way, but unlike the rest of us they never grew out of it," Marshall said.

Roche said such concerns are unfounded at Camp White Tail, which has operated legally and without incident since it opened in 1984. It attracts an average of 1,200 people at any given time, including 30 families who live there year-round. All must undergo background checks, and the camp enforces strict rules against lustful behavior.

"Sure, it could be a magnet for pedophiles, but we don't let it be. We screen everyone thoroughly and, thanks to the governor, we can check online to see if someone's a sex offender," he said.

A searchable database of sex criminals is available through the Virginia State Police Web site.

Nor are special youth activities novel at White Tail, Roche said. Each summer features "Junior Fest" weekends chock full of activities for the children of the camp's regulars.

The summer youth camp, however, is different in that parents don't have to be present. Roche likened it to summertime retreats that churches run for boys and girls.

"This is actually a camp-type camp," he said. "All the meals are inclusive, the camp is totally structured with arts and crafts for the younger ones, with swimming lessons and firefighting lessons."

There are also activities uniquely suited to nakedness such as the pudding toss.

"We give each camper a cup of pudding and a spoon and just let them plaster each other," Roche said. With nothing to launder, cleanup is as simple as a quick blast with a garden hose.

Also unusually, counselors outnumber the kids. They range in age from 19 to 25, and all have been thoroughly trained.

"There's 1 1/2 counselors for each camper," Roche said.

The camp is modeled after the AANR's Youth Leadership Camp, which has operated for 11 years near Tampa, Fla., said Carolyn Hawkins, spokeswoman for the Kissimmee, Fla.-based organization. The other youth nudist camp is in Arizona.

AANR expects the Virginia camp will attract kids from Georgia, the Carolinas, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Hawkins' 22-year-old grandson, Steven Vickers, has been a camp counselor for years. Vickers, a student at Valencia Community College, said first-time campers are uptight about their nakedness for about a day, then easily shed their self-consciousness.

"They realize there are other people like they are, and they find it comforting. They see that other kids are going through puberty, too," he said.

For children, peer pressure discourages sexual conduct.

"Most of these kids have grown up together and they're more like family than friends. So it would be like going to a family reunion and hitting on someone. It's just not the thing to do," Vickers said.

There's nothing illegal about gathering in the buff on private property, even for children, as long as being nude doesn't mean being lewd.

"To be illegal, the line that has to be crossed is lascivious intent," Murtaugh said. "Rest assured that law enforcement will be very aware and vigilant about this."

I don't have a problem with nudist camps, but not for teenagers for christs sake.
I just find it very fucked up. A ton of naked adults running around with even more naked teens. You can't tell me that some sick fucks aren't working there taking advantage of this.

We were active social nudists/naturists for many years.
Unbelievably perhaps, everything the AANR says is true.

Amazingly this group and the Naturist Society have created and sustain an alternative world-view within our society. Outside nudism, in the society at large, nudity is a sexual cesspool in many, perhaps most, public settings. Within the Nudist/Naturist commnunities, it is simply a natural part of being human.

I wouldn't expect anyone who has not experienced the AANR or Naturist events to understand how this could be possible. I know it sounds nearly incredible. This is one example where thinking about something without experiencing it loses all perspective. I think this is true about a lot of things.

Well, since there is no sexuality besides that bestowed by nature, if you were to experience this, you'd see there is absolutely no need for age limits. If you visited a licensed well-run camp, the absence of any prurient sex issue would be immediately apparent.

You are probably still associating sexuality with naked human bodies. It doesn't relate. Prurient cultural rather than healthy natural sexuality arises because of repression, prurient context, and packaging.

I may be assuming too much from your last sentence, but I'd like to repeat that in the ways we commonly imagine sex - there is none at a nudist camp.

Wow. This is one instant were I agree 100% with Art. Its the catholic dogma the made the modern christian dogma that made america that made american morals talking. This all dates back to the days that nudity was seen as so bad that even simple tasks like taking a bath was sinfull. I see no problem with this camp or nudist ingeneral. Of course I also think that the age of consent should be lowered too.

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Meridae'n once played "death" at a game of chess that lasted for over two years. He finally beat death in a best 34 out of 67 match. At that time he could ask for any one thing and he could wish for the hope of all mankind... he looked death right in the eye and said ...

I think Art brings up a good point in that nudity is not simply in sexual form. In fact, one could even say that clothing yourself may cause lust and curiosity to be more prominent, because, if nudity is a common thing to you, it will stop standing out and the lust and/or desires will recede...

Sure why not? Let it happen.Then on Saturday night they can all sit in a hall,eat Big Mac's and watch the latest Hollywood DVD while sitting in the buff. At least they will know that no one is packing a pistol.

i dont have a problem with it... ill walk around my apartment naked untill lunchtime on the weekends... i'll have pants nearby in case someone knocks on the door... but i like being naked... and i think it could be pretty interesting to go to a nudist camp thing like that...

Originally posted by The_Dude i have a question, if you're at a nudist camp, wont you have a hard-on 24/7? (or at least the time you're around people).

you have to release it sometime

Let me ask YOU something. When you walk around now do you have a hard on at all times? Why not? Are there not attractive females around you? (and if not then get out more often)

Of course when you DO get a hard on it would be much harder to hide (read Impossible)

__________________
Meridae'n once played "death" at a game of chess that lasted for over two years. He finally beat death in a best 34 out of 67 match. At that time he could ask for any one thing and he could wish for the hope of all mankind... he looked death right in the eye and said ...

I guess you have to be brought up around it to understand, but I find it amusing ages for the camp are 11-18, the supervisors are ages 19-25. Some of those 18 year olds are bound to be attractive to those older but still young supervisors.

Originally posted by JStrider i dont have a problem with it... ill walk around my apartment naked untill lunchtime on the weekends... i'll have pants nearby in case someone knocks on the door... but i like being naked... and i think it could be pretty interesting to go to a nudist camp thing like that...

Originally posted by sngx1275 I guess you have to be brought up around it to understand, but I find it amusing ages for the camp are 11-18, the supervisors are ages 19-25. Some of those 18 year olds are bound to be attractive to those older but still young supervisors.

Hence the 1.5 supervisors per camper. I just volunteered for a school camp this spring and had eight 5th graders to supervise. I guess school camps just don't attract supervisors the same way.

Originally posted by sngx1275 I guess you have to be brought up around it to understand, but I find it amusing ages for the camp are 11-18, the supervisors are ages 19-25. Some of those 18 year olds are bound to be attractive to those older but still young supervisors.

Sure. But is that not true at the same camp just none nudist?

Quote:

Originally posted by The_Dude but i dont really have hardon's when i looked at clothed attractive females.

but if it was those same attractive females naked, yes i'd have a hard on

Well thats you. And you know you say that and it may be true but you also have to remember that, to you atleast, nudity is a taboo. And taboos are arousing.

Quote:

Originally posted by Tirian Hence the 1.5 supervisors per camper. I just volunteered for a school camp this spring and had eight 5th graders to supervise. I guess school camps just don't attract supervisors the same way.

I am not quite sure what you are trying to imply here. Either that all the counselors are perverts that all applyed to join there to see naked young things or maybe you are trying to to say the prehaps the camp itself is running some sort of mating service. At any rate the point is it serves no point to sit and guess about this one minute point of the camp. I DO find it odd that there are so many counselors mostly because camps try to make a profit and unless it is really expensive they wouldn't be able to pay that many counselors per camper. Of course, there ARE only 30 children at the camp. So 1.5 does just mean 45. Its possible because its so new and experimental they are just testing it out untill they try to become bigger. That is just a guess on my part but it is just as likely as any guess about anyones ill thoughts. More likely in my opinon.

__________________
Meridae'n once played "death" at a game of chess that lasted for over two years. He finally beat death in a best 34 out of 67 match. At that time he could ask for any one thing and he could wish for the hope of all mankind... he looked death right in the eye and said ...

Prurient sexuality is a result of repressive contexts - it is not the natural state of humans to be as hypersexual as we are when we are inhabiting culturally encoded space. In the natural context sexuality is not the prominent or dominant human experience of nakedness.

Out of thousands of males I have seen at nudist camps I have never seen one with a hard on.

Art, I get your point, but I guess the reason I think it's messed up is because if I was naked and around a bunch of naked chics when I was 13-15 I'd have a 24 hour boner. I would've been jerking off 50 times a day. I guess I just can't separate naked as not being something sexual. I'm sure people can, but it's very difficult for me to understand.

Yeah, I understand how people can see someone naked and thinkg nothing of it.... Kinda wish I knew how that was. If i ever went to a place like that.. that first day. Yeah it'd be obvious it was my first day... heh. and i do mean the WHOLE day. But yeah, we simply have a hard time understanding because we have grown up to see that less clothes = sexy. Thus a nudist camp seems like a place where people can just do it on the beach.. heh (even though that isn't what it is.)

About the article.. I Think its fucking awesome (no pun intended).

__________________RoboBlaster:
Welcome to the club! Not that I'm in the club. And there really isn'a a club in the first place. But if there was a club and if I was in it, I would definitely welcome you to it.

ok (trying to be as mature as I can here), does intimate relations mean as much to nudists as it does to an average person? I mean if I saw my gf naked all the time I don't know if it would excite me as much as when I see her naked now.

I've never been to a nudist camp, but I have been to a nude beach with old girlfriends. Rest assured guys, no one is walking around with a hard-on. If you've never been to one, you won't understand that it's not a sex thing at all. I agree 100% with Art.

When I was fifteen or sixteen, I got hardons all the time, even without a pretty girl to look at. Often for no apparent reason. How do nudists handle that sort of thing? Do you just ignore it? Go somewhere else until it goes away?

__________________
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Originally posted by Greg700 When I was fifteen or sixteen, I got hardons all the time, even without a pretty girl to look at. Often for no apparent reason. How do nudists handle that sort of thing? Do you just ignore it? Go somewhere else until it goes away?

Exactly, I guess in my first post maybe I didn't say exactly what I meant to say. We are talking about 19 year old guys being counselors for 18 year old NUDE chicks, now nature has to take over somewhere in there. How does one deal with a hard on when he is supposed to be 'counseling' a chick 1 year younger than him.

Edit: ah found BBtB talking about "is the same not found at non nudist camps"

Well you are right BBtB, but you are wrong too, in non nudist camps clothing hides the arousal, in nudists camps there is nothing to hide that.

I'd say don't knock nudism, 'till you try it.
I've only participated in the context of nude beach-going, but it was very clear- no sex of any kind was tolerated.
It was a fun, freeing experience, unlike any other I've had.

As I recall, sus mentioned once at a large gathering that some guy had a hard on. I didn't see it but he just got over it since no one cared. I suppose you could sit down or use a towel wrap - Towels are always around, etc.

The preoccupation with this rare possibility for - what? embarrassment, I suppose - is being overplayed here.

It's clear you're not getting my point. The possibility that's being focused on here is a result of repressed prurient sexuality - which is not natural hormonal sexuality but culturally induced frisson. It takes about 2 minutes to get over that. After that, you'll feel like a real person rather than another culturally manipulated automaton.

To tell you the truth, this is probably one of the most significant threads we've hosted in a while. I know it's mind-boggling. And if we can make some progress through this, perhaps it will offer some real insight into how our cultural environment micromanages us - down to things that we consider "natural human responses".

This question is easily answered by doing a Google search for "nudism faq erection" .

Here's one of them:
"4.3. Gender-specific embarrassment
Naturists know that both erections and menstruation are normal, so don't be afraid that your body's natural occurrences will offend other naturists. An erection is embarrassing, but rare, and easy to hide - just grab a towel, roll over, or jump in the water. Most naturists won't even comment about it. (Don't fear the erection your first time - most men will tell you they were too nervous for it to even be possible!) Women may feel uncomfortable being nude during menstruation. No one will be offended if women choose to wear shorts etc. during these times."

and then do some research on the AANR (American Association for Nude Recreation) and The Naturist Society, you'll find many intriguing options for living more natural lives and for the possibility that sexuality can be healthy rather than prurient.

Perhaps this topic can give us some deeper understand that many of the things we consider natural are really just culturally induced.

I also don't see what the big deal is. Nudism has nothing to do with sex. It's about feeling the sun on your skin, feeling the wind in your back, and dammit... letting the goodies dangle free for a change. I'm not a nudist, but I'm pretty certain I understand what it's about.

And even if to some children it does turn out being sexual experience. What it the problem with that? I honestly wouldn't mind if my son, or daugher, learned more about the opposite sex's body at that camp. Sex isn't dirty or dangerous. It's healthy, and it's fun.

Originally posted by ARTelevision
Perhaps this topic can give us some deeper understand that many of the things we consider natural are really just culturally induced.

Are there any cultures on Earth, aside from the nudists, that practice nudity on a regular basis? I'm aware of maybe some smaller tribal people, but even then, most of them have some sort of coverings.

What I'm saying is that I can't think of anywhere where everyday nudity is a common and accepted practice. Therefore, I could say that seeing a naked member of the opposite/same sex that you consider attractive, and being aroused from it, IS a naturally occuring human trait. Nudists probaly just repress these "instincts" in order to function in such a group.

and although i dont really like to stereo type people, it seemed like the kind of place that would end up with someone getting Molested, although we may not think it is wrong, it will never be accepted.

I have no problem with this kind of thing, as long as they can keep the paedophiles away. Our society has become too uptight about everything, and treat nudist groups like they're a bunch of nutcases. In my opinion, the only problem with nudity is sunburn.